Marketplace

Welcome to North Carolina!

Parent and child cardinals take a tour of North Carolina in best-selling author-illustrator Martha Day Zschock's Hello! board book series for children. In Hello, North Carolina!, join the pair as they explore the Blue Ridge Parkway, hike the Appalachian Trail, and explore the Biltmore Estate. With something for the entire family to enjoy, you won’t want to say goodbye!

Land of the Sky. New Age Mecca. Paris of the South San Francisco of the East. Asheville, North Carolina is all of these things and more!

Throughout the 20th Century, this city nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains established itself as an artisan city, chock full of beautiful art deco buildings, and home and retreat for artists such as Thomas Wolfe, Bill Monroe, and Nina Simone. But what made this land so special? Take a journey with author Douglas Stuart McDaniel as he takes a look at the rich history of this beautiful city.

Native American tribes, including Cherokee, Creek, and Shawano, passed through Asheville and Western North Carolina, building towns and villages along the banks of the Swannanoa and French Broad Rivers for more than 1,000 years. The first white settlers arrived in the Swannanoa Valley in October of 1784. After the Civil War, Asheville became a haven for the wealthy elite of Charleston and Philadelphia; as the resort era blossomed, so too did Asheville. Second only to Miami in its treasure trove of Art Deco landmarks, Asheville is an architectural and historical time capsule of national significance. It is a community with a rich heritage and history in the arts, including textiles, pottery, and modernist art.

Today Asheville is at a crossroads; attempting to balance the environmental and natural attractions of the area with commercial development is and will be one of Asheville's greatest challenges. Including archival photographs and rich with information, Asheville is a must have for both residents and visitors to this beautiful city.

A fishing village that started its life as Fort Johnston, the town changed its name to Smithville, and then Southport, as it is known today, read the town's long and watery history.

Southport is a small seaside village whose rich history began as early as 1754, when Fort Johnston was built. In 1792, it was incorporated as the town of Smithville, but in 1887, with their busy fishing village growing, the citizens decided to rename it Southport in hopes it would bring a port to their town. Much to their disappointment, however, the port was located in Wilmington. In 1954, Hurricane Hazel made landfall, and the storm surge delivered to Southport was the greatest in North Carolina's recorded history. Like most seaside villages, Southport recovered and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places today. Observing Independence Day since 1795, Southport annually hosts the official North Carolina Fourth of July celebration.

Since the opening of the first permanent railway in 1833, hundreds of railroad companies have operated in North Carolina.

Rail transportation, faster and more efficient than other methods of the era, opened new markets for the products of North Carolina's farms, factories, and mines. Over the years, North Carolina rail companies have ranged in size from well-engineered giants like the Southern Railway to temporary logging railroads like the Hemlock. Cross ties and rails were laid across almost every conceivable terrain: tidal marshes, sand hills, rolling piedmont, and mountain grades. Vulnerable to the turbulent and unregulated economies of the day, few railroad companies escaped reorganizations and receiverships during their corporate lives, often leaving tangled and contradictory histories in their passing.

From the rocky slopes of Kings Mountain to the plains of Hannah's Cowpens, the Carolina backcountry hosted two of the Revolutionary War's most critical battles

On October 7, 1780, the Battle of Kings Mountain utilized guerilla techniques - American Over Mountain Men wearing buckskin and hunting shirts and armed with hunting rifles attacked Loyalist troops from behind trees, resulting in an overwhelming Patriot victory. In January of the next year, the Battle of Cowpens saw a different strategy but a similar outcome: with brilliant military precision, Continental Regulars, dragoons, and Patriot militia executed the war's only successful double envelopment maneuver to defeat the British. Using firsthand accounts and careful analysis of the best classic and modern scholarship on the subject, historian Robert Brown demonstrates how the combination of both battles facilitated the downfall of General Charles Cornwallis and led to the Patriot victory in America.

Over 80,000 of woodland acres became the home of America's first forestry school and the heart of the East's first national forest formed under the Weeks Act.

When George Vanderbilt constructed the Biltmore House, he hired forester Gifford Pinchot and, later, Dr. Carl A. Schenck to manage his forests. Now comprising more than 500,000 acres, Pisgah National Forest holds a vast history and breathtaking natural scenery. The forest sits in the heart of the southern Appalachians and includes Linville Gorge, Catawba Falls, Wilson Creek Wild and Scenic River, Roan Mountain, Max Patch, Shining Rock Wilderness and Mount Pisgah. Author and naturalist Marci Spencer treks through the human, political and natural history that has formed Pisgah National Forest.

The history of North Carolina's Outer Banks is as ancient and mesmerizing as its beaches. Much has been documented, but many stories were lost--until now.

Join local author and historian Sarah Downing as she reveals a past of the Outer Banks eroded by time and tides. Revel in the nostalgic days of the Carolina Beach Pavilion, stand in the shadows of windmills that once lined the coast and learn how native islanders honor those aviation giants, the Wright brothers. Downing's vignettes adventure through windswept dunes, dive deep in search of the lost ironclad the "Monitor" and lament the decline of the diamondback terrapin. Break out the beach chair and let your mind soak in the salty bygone days of these famed coastal extremities.

Join author James Vickers as he brings the rich and illustrious history to life through the lens of vintage images.

From humble beginnings as a rustic settlement formed around a chapel on a hill--New Hope Chapel Hill--in the mid-eighteenth century, Chapel Hill has attained international recognition as one of the foremost centers of education in the United States. Despite the fact that their town is flourishing, Chapel Hillians still think of it as a village, and it is the combination of a small Southern town and a concentration of creative, progressive people that makes Chapel Hill special. Although Chapel Hill is known for its ability to move with the times, it is also aware of the importance of the past and the need to preserve local history.

Hillsborough North Carolina is a small town with a huge footprint in American history!

The picturesque town of Hillsborough, once a treasured secret, has recently been rediscovered for its beauty, locale, and historical ties. Various buildings that date back to the late 1700s are still located in Hillsborough's downtown area, which itself is a designated National Historic District. Having maintained the community's rich heritage, residents reap the benefits of small town life in the vicinity of a booming metropolis.

English colonists founded Hillsborough in 1754 where the Great Indian Trading Pathcrossed the Eno River. By the late 1760s, the town was at the center of the Regulator Movement, which challenged the local Colonial government. When the colonies decided to break from England, a town resident named William Hooper signed the Declaration of Independence. During the war that ensued, the British army briefly occupied the town and fought skirmishes in the surrounding area. After the war, prominent citizens gathered in Hillsborough for the Constitutional Convention of 1788to determine the course of the new nation. Less than a century later, another armed conflict involved Hillsborough; leaders of the last great Confederate army camped in the town and discussed surrender in 1865. Their decision to lay down arms essentially ended the most tragic chapter in American history.

With the help of the town's historical preservation organizations, as well as several lifelong residents, author Chris Holaday has assembled this photographic journey, which includes many rare images, to celebrate nearly 250 years of Hillsborough history.

Charlotte and the Carolina Piedmont has an extensive and legendary tradition of automobile racing. Soon after 1904, when the first car was registered in Charlotte, autos became a part of everyday life.

Car racing was just around the bend: an open-road race was run through Charlotte as early as 1908. Many drivers themselves have hailed from the area, and some are said to have received early training by running moonshine and outrunning authorities. Probably the best-known aspect of Carolina racing is the Queen City's involvement since 1949 with NASCAR, which hosts many of its big names and operations. Auto Racing in Charlotte and the Carolina Piedmont explores the story behind the various forms of the sport, the kinds of people who have raced, and the reasons why they have done so. Historic photographs-many never before published-trace the history of NASCAR and look beyond the professional aspect to include the dragracers, wannabees, kids, and just plain amateurs participating in this cultural phenomenon. The story includes the first formal oval track, constructed entirely of wooden planks and opened in 1925. Other famous Charlotte locations, including professional dirt tracks, drag strips, and even a paved track dedicated to Soap Box Derby, are also revisited. Images of fans, mechanics, and hangers-on round out this singular journey of racing in the Carolinas.

Discover the rich history of Moravians in North Carolina through the lens of over 200 vintage images.

Members of the Moravian Church who settled in North Carolina were meticulous record keepers, documenting almost every aspect of their day-to-day lives. A significant part of those records is preserved in the form of photographs. Moravian photographers-both professional and amateur-created an enduring legacy by capturing their society and surroundings in faithful detail. Their photographs, which record the towns of Bethabara, Bethania, Salem, Friedberg, Hope, and Friedland, as well as other communities throughout the state, provide a rare glimpse into the historic world of Moravian life in North Carolina.

When early settlers struggled to grow anything at all in North Carolina's sandy soil, tobacco was a boon. The lives of many North Carolinians continue to revolve around the growth cycle of the tobacco plant, from laying-by to cropping and curing. In this collection of nostalgic memories, Yeargin and others reminisce about the frustrations of slugs and tar, the cropping of dew-drenched leaves, the aching beauty of a tobacco bloom and the ultimate connection of man with earth--a connection that is slowly fading with each new generation.

African Americans are greatly responsible for the impressive growth of Durham County in North Carolina, once known as the "Capital of the Black Bourgeoisie".

Durham County, North Carolina, once called the "Chicago of the South" and the "Capital of the Black Bourgeoisie," has long occupied an important place in the hearts and minds of those who called Durham County home. African Americans have played a vital role in the growth and development of the region over the years, from antebellum times to Reconstruction to the Civil Rights era and in the present. The African American citizens of this historic Tar Heel county share an impressive story marked by determination, economic achievement, and resilience, and they have made a difference in all walks of life - educational, religious, civic, and commercial. This pictorial history reflects upon the rich and vibrant role that African Americans played in the area following emancipation. In its earliest stages, residents in such neighborhoods as Hayti, Hickstown, Crest Street, Pearsontown, the West End, the East End, and Walltown each created sturdy surviving communities that have shaped Durham.

On March 19–21, 1865, nearly 80,000 soldiers clashed near the small hamlet of Bentonville, North Carolina, in a bitter battle that would prove to be the largest ever fought in the state and one of the last major battles of the Civil War.  Over the following decades, residents, descendants, and historians preserved the Bentonville story through monuments, markers, tours, and more. A hundred years after the battle, representatives of the state of North Carolina dedicated a permanent museum and created Bentonville Battlefield State Historic Site. Over the following years, North Carolina Historic Sites, with the American Battlefield Trust, has preserved and interpreted the battlefield at Bentonville—with over 2,000 acres preserved as of 2023. Today, the site continues to tell the multitude of Bentonville stories, including the battle, its aftermath, and the community that surrounds it. /Collecting photographs from several North Carolina state agencies, historical societies, and descendants of veterans and community members, this book tells the visual history of the battlefield as a site of memory. Several works exist to tell the history of the battle, but this is the first history of the battlefield itself. Authors Colby Lipscomb and Derrick Brown have decades of experience at the battlefield as visitors and, currently, as staff members.